1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an improved data processing system and, in particular, to a method and apparatus for managing world wide web documents in a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention provides a method, apparatus, and program for magnifying the text of a link while retaining browser functionality in the magnified display.
2. Description of Related Art
The worldwide network of computers commonly known as the “Internet” has seen explosive growth in the last several years. Mainly, this growth has been fueled by the introduction and widespread use of so-called “web browsers,” which enable simple graphical user interface-based access to network servers, which support documents formatted as so-called “web pages.” These web pages are versatile and customized by authors. For example, web pages may mix text and graphic images. A web page also may include fonts of varying sizes.
A browser is a program that is executed on a graphical user interface (GUI). The browser allows a user to seamlessly load documents from the Internet and display them by means of the GUI. These documents are commonly formatted using markup language protocols, such as hypertext markup language (HTML). Portions of text and images within a document are delimited by indicators, which affect the format for display. In HTML documents, the indicators are referred to as tags. Tags may include links, also referred to as “hyperlinks,” to other pages. The browser gives some means of viewing the contents of web pages (or nodes) and of navigating from one web page to another in response to selection of the links.
The versatility and customization of web pages, however, are sometimes an impediment to users. Some web pages may be designed with small fonts to accommodate more content. For example, a “portal” may be designed to provide access to information and services, such as news, shopping, and stock quotes, from a wide variety of sources. This results in a very “busy” page with small fonts and many links to navigate.
Visually impaired users may find it difficult to locate links in documents with small print. Other users may have difficulty with fine motor movements and cannot manipulate a mouse pointer with accuracy, thus making it difficult to select links in a crowded portion of the page. Magnifiers exist that allow a user to select a portion of a web page and generate a magnified display of that portion. However, after a link is located in the magnified display, the user must return to the browser to locate and select the link. Therefore, a user with visual impairment or difficulty with fine motor movements still faces the problem of locating and selecting the link in the original display.
Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a magnified display while retaining the functionality of the web browser.